Flowers for a Ghost
by S-o-u-n-d Showers
Summary: "It isn't a crime to love" Hinata whispers, as they walk home one night. "Nor is it shameful to cry when you have lost somebody who is very dear to you." - Nejiten


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Notes: Very proud of how this turned out, enjoy!**

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><p><em>When she learns of his death, she does not cry.<em>

_When they return with his broken, lifeless body, she comforts and soothes as best she can, all the while refusing to shed tears of her own._

_At his funeral she wears white amid a sea of black. She smiles bravely, the first to lay her flowers and the last to leave his grave._

"It isn't a crime to love" Hinata whispers, as they walk home one night. "Nor is it shameful to cry when you have lost somebody who is very dear to you."

Tenten says nothing. She's too preoccupied holding back the tears that keep threatening to fall.

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><p>Sometime later, she comes across his forehead protector, her fingers trace the multitude of scratches that grace it's metal surface. Each dent and imperfection tells a story that brings water to her eyes. Even now, as the heartache Tenten endures surpasses greater pain than she has ever known, not a single tear is shed. For she knows that if she allows that first drop to fall, the tears will not stop raining down. It is something that Tenten cannot bear to let his ghost see.<p>

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><p>She wakes to find herself in a hospital bed, all alone in an empty room. As she lies there, assessing her aches and pains, memory floods back. Her first solo mission since Team Gai disbanded; she is to deliver top secret documents to undercover corespondents in the Land of Snow, and is viciously ambushed along the way.<p>

She fights a ninja who's resemblance to Neji is both devastating and distracting. All her attacks rendered useless, and then a loss.

She looses. She wasn't supposed to loose. Not like this, not to a godforsaken look-a-like. Tenten is ashamed, humiliated, and utterly defeated. It is the beginning of the end for her.

Sakura and Ino accompany her home from the hospital. Rain sheets down from a dark, dreary sky, and all three Shinobi are promptly drenched to the bone. Sakura giggles madly, seemingly content to let the rain do it's worst. She grins like an idiot the entire way home, humming softly.

As for Ino, she wails in despair, cowering beneath the shelter of a soaking jacket in an attempt to save her hair. She's positive that a certain Nara has forgotten their date, and resolves to beat the living daylights out of him. Ino glances over at Tenten who remains uncharacteristically lifeless. The brunette's shoulders are shaking lightly, her face shadowed by a curtain of dripping hair. Instinctively, Ino slides an arm around her friend, thinking she has grown cold.

The older girl fails to realize that Tenten is not at all cold- she is crying, and in such a downpour, each tear blends into the water droplets cascading down her pale cheeks.

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><p>At first, Tenten waits for it to rain before she gives in and sobs. Over time, however, her bravery begins to wilt and she ends up curled in the shower, each breath a strangled gasp. Despite Tenten's herculean efforts, she can no longer hide her sorrows from the world and friends begin to worry.<p>

Breathing is hard, living is harder. She spends countless nights terrorized by grief, haunted by his absence. Tenten no longer has energy to leave her house; she is hovering dangerously above the point of no return, clinging on by a mere thread. She hardly moves, drifting in and out of reality, a prisoner to her own emotions. It has been days since she last eat, and the cries of concerned friends go unanswered.

In the end, Sakura obliterates her front door while an army of familiar faces and grasping hands attempt to pull her from the darkness that she's so deeply lost in. The recovery takes long months of tough-love, self-reflection, and a whole lot of grim determination. Lessons are learned, tears shed, memories both good and bad are shared, then passed around like the warmth of a flame. As winter gives way to spring, Tenten reaches for the sun and, like a blossoming flower pushing through the snow, bursts into life again.

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><p>She is reading a book about some of the more uncommon weapons that can be found in Suna, when Hinata approaches from across the training ground.<p>

"Um, I thought you could use this. I saw it at the market and decided that you ought to have it." She smiles shyly and hands her a small box tied with an ivory colored ribbon. Tenten's eyes widen in surprise, touched by the Hyuga's gesture. She opens the box carefully, and finds herself smiling. Nestled inside is a handwritten card and, underneath that, laid on pale pink silk is a tiny Peony bush sprout.

Neji always loved peonies and it is something he tells her shortly before his death. Hinata fidgets awkwardly, indexes pressed together in their trademark position.

"Y-you haven't seen Naruto, have you?" By now, her face has turned positively red. Laughing, Tenten points towards the bath houses nearby and poor Hinata is ready to die of embarrassment.

Later on, Tenten discovers that her peony bush is flourishing wonderfully. Heavy, white blossoms give off a heavenly aroma and fill the air with their falling petals. She cries then, but for once they are tears of relief and joy.

Suddenly, a warm tingle shoots up her spine and for a fleeting moment Tenten is certain she hears a voice whisper her name. Then the feeling passes and she sighs softly. When she looks back and sees how far she's come, Tenten realizes that it was never the death of her closest friend which brought her to the brink of despair. No, she has learned much from the past year...

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><p>"Letting go of you... was the hardest thing I have ever done." She's stretched out beside his grave, tracing circles through the warm, summer air. Her gaze flickers across the dappled willow boughs above and she falls silent for some time.<p>

At length, she rolls over unto her front. "Lee attempted to re-create Gai-sensei's Curry of Life, and failed miserably. It was hilarious." Tenten laughs and the sound of her voice resonates across the field. "Since you aren't around to taste our amazing cooking skills, Lee and I dumped the whole damn thing into Sasuke's tea. Needless to say, I think he might have shit bricks."

Tenten props herself up on one elbow, gently brushing away the leaves that cover his headstone. "I miss you, Neji." She says quietly, laying a bouquet of wildflowers upon the cool, white marble.

She is half-way to the gate when his voice calls out to her. Tenten turns and casts a curious, almost hopeful look behind her. What she sees causes a fresh wave of tears to stream down her stunned face. Standing, pressed casually against the willow trunk, is Neji. His contours are brilliantly white, as if she is seeing him from behind a layer of thick glass.

He reaches for something and then straightens with her bouquet in his hands. Their eyes meet, chocolate brown and lilac white. Neji smiles then, a beautiful smile that reaches right into her heart and leaves her breathless. Tenten raises her hand in a final wave and he nods ever so slightly, already beginning to flicker from view.

_"Go."_ He mouths silently, pointing towards the gate.

As she turns away, there is a rush of warm air. It swirls around her, blowing back stands of glistening hair like a gentle hand upon her brow. Tenten blinks, her tears glimmering like precious crystals as they burst upon the ground.

She does not look back.

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><p><strong>Additional Notes: As always, please R&amp;R!<strong>


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